nation'sdebtceiling, delayingthe fiscal battle for a few more months. you know, i was going to make a joke about this story, but i don't think it needs a joke. i think it needs to be slow jammed. you know what i'm talking about, tariq? >> yeah, jimmy. [ cheers and applause ] i think you're saying you'd like to "slow jam this news." >> jimmy: that's right. i want to slow jam the news, and i'm not the only one. [ cheers and applause ] >> hello, i'm brian williams of "nbc nightly news" and host of nbc's "rock center," and i, too, would like to "slow jam this news." >> jimmy: hit me three times! ♪ ♪ >> less than a month after signing a fiscal cliff deal and narrowly averting a financial crisis, the obama administration once again finds itself locking horns with republicans over the issue of raising the debt ceiling -- the amount of money the nation is legally allowed to borrow. >> jimmy: oh, yeah. [ laughter ] when it comes to raising the debt ceiling, the president's having a hard time getting it up. [ laughter ] seems the gop ain't rubbing him the right way, especially with t

fiscal cliff crisis and thenthedebtceilingdrama.now president obama is calling on congress to get past the next term we all need to turn, the sequester. big, across-the-board spending cuts that are due to take effect the 1st of march. the president called today for a limited package of spending cuts and tax reforms to avoid the deadline. republican speaker of the house john boehner rejected that, saying republicans want a bigger agreement on a long-term deficit reduction plan. the white house also announced today president obama will be going to israel this spring for the first time since taking office. israeli media say he's due to arrive march 20th, though the white house would not confirm any of the travel dates. >>> we are learning much more tonight about the breaking story we brought you here last night. the dramatic rescue of a 5-year-old boy after a standoff in alabama that lasted almost a week. nbc's gabe gutierrez is with us tonight from midland city, alabama. gabe, good evening. >> reporter: brian, good evening. today ethan's mother broke her silence. in a written statem

. >>> and this afternoon, the senate decides whether to raisethedebtceilingforthe next few months. in the bill, an interesting provision that would hold the members' pay if they failed to pass the budget by february 15th. >>> all right, tornados tearing through the south and the midwest is digging out. bill karins is sorting through this for us. >> unfortunately we had the first tornado fatality in this country in about 220 days. that had been a record. the story this morning is what's happening behind this storm that's exiting the northeast this morning. the windchills and the cold, i mean, winter has returned with a fury. it is like winter was mad at the big warm up we had a couple days ago. minus windchill of 32 in fargo. a couple spots are close to minus 50 in north dakota. a little bit of cold air in billings, but the air is not going to make it through all of the rockies. we are looking very quiet behind this big storm as we are watching cool conditions and snow flurries in the midwest. they went flying across the country. there will be major airport delays in the northeast and

put off the debate over raisingthedebtceiling. thismeasure suspends the government's borrowing limit to may 19th. the national debt will be pushing $17 trillion. in other words, it's really washington's version of kicking the can down the road. the president is expected to sign this bill immediately. >>> now to the economy and the financial markets. stocks fell a bit today with all three major indexes modestly lower. but for the month, the dow was up almost 6%, the best since january in '94. nasdaq gained 4%, s&p just over 6. its best january since '97. what is the market surge trying to tell us when mixed in with some bad news out there, as well? and on the eve of another big jobs report? our report from nbc's tom costello. >> reporter: 25-year-old kory wilson can tell you, it's not easy looking for a job. she has applied for 200 since earning a master's degree in public relations last may. >> being a post graduate, either i'm overqualified or i'm underqualified. >> she is looking for work, but the economy seemingly poised to either take off or take a stumble. today new applic

we're seeing some different indicators in terms of what the economy is doing.thatdebtceilingvotethe senate has approve it, the house already did so we can borrow morgan to pay our bills through may. congress at that point will have to deal with it again. richard? >> tracie potts in washington. thank you. new yorkers are waking up to the news of the passing of an icon, one of the city's and nation's most outspoken and popular politicians, ed koch has died of congestive heart failure. he served in world war ii and later was elected to three terms as mayor of new york city. ed koch dead at the age of 88. dramatic and contention day of testimony for senator charlie hagel. >> reporter: john mccain seized on hagel's opposition to the surge in iraq. >> the question is, are we right or wrong? that's a pretty straightforward question. >> well, i'm not going to give you a yes or no answer. >> reporter: over his 2008 comments related to israel that a quote jewish lobby intimidate a lot of people in congress. >> name one person in your opinion who is intimidated by the israeli lobby in the

confirmed. >>> senators taking up a house bill to raisethatdebtceiling. themeasure would suspend the more than $16 trillion spending limit on federal borrowing making much needed cash available through may and there's a provision that would withhold pay from members of the house and senate if they fail to pass a budget by april. the bill is expected to pass and president obama has said he will immediately sign it into law. >>> this should be breaking news. twinkies are safe. hostess has come up with a deal to save the snack food. for details on that and a look at how futures are trading, we turn to jackie deangelis at cnbc world headquarters. probably been years since you had a twinkie. >> good morning to you. it has been years. i'm going to hold you in suspense on the twinkie story because it's so good. let's start with futures for a second. slightly lower this morning after we saw stocks losing a bit of ground yesterday. investors reacting to a report showing that the economy contracted during the final three months of last year. now it's the first negative print on gdp since the s